Cook County v. Barrett

344 N.E.2d 540 (1975)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Cook (P) filed a complaint and an amended complaint in chancery against former County Clerk, Barrett (D), seeking the declaration of a constructive trust and an accounting for bribes allegedly received by him while he held office. D abused his position of trust by employing it to seek secret personal gains from the Shoup Voting Machine Corporation. Payments from Shoup to D amounted to approximately $180,000 for the years 1967-1970. P prayed that D be declared a constructive trustee for the citizens and taxpayers of P for the amounts received by him from Shoup and that he be required to account to P for those sums. There were also secrets payments received by D from Arthur Gallagher & Company, an insurance agency, in connection with his award of insurance contracts on P voting machines to companies represented by Gallagher. These payments had been approximated for 1967 to 1970 at $6,000. D contends that P is entitled only to fees and allowances which are legally collected, that to allow recovery by a public body of bribes or kickbacks paid to its officers would be against public policy; that P alleged no damage and suffered none, that no money moved from P to him, that if any money was paid it was paid by Shoup and Gallagher, not by P. The court dismissed P’s complaint, and P appealed.